The present invention relates to metal melting furnaces and particularly to furnaces for extracting aluminium from scrap metal comprising iron and aluminium.
Presently known furnaces for extracting aluminium from scrap metal comprise a furnace housing in which is fixedly mounted a hearth for receiving the scrap metal.
In order to extract aluminium from scrap metal in such a furnace, the scrap metal is loaded into the hearth inside the furnace so as to melt the aluminium which is usually collected as it melts and then, after the aluminium has been extracted the remaining scrap metal is removed from the hearth by raking it out through the furnace door by hand.
Such a furance thus suffers from the disadvantage that a considerable amount of labour is needed to remove the scrap metal after extraction of the aluminium has taken place.